7 Things We Love About Campus Photo Shoots

It’s that time of year again: photo shoot time! For a few weeks every fall and spring, various CCAers hop on a plane or hit the road to college campuses across the country. We meet up with one of our fabulous photographers and spend long days capturing photographic proof of what makes each of our clients’ campuses beautiful.

These are long days. We typically rise at dawn to capture the morning light as it spreads across the academic buildings, then run to the other side of the grounds to snap photos of study groups in the library, run back across a quad or two to photograph a faculty member teaching an honors class, stopping to take quick shots of students along the way as they stroll to their 10am class. The day continues on, and we stay into the evening to shoot anything from lacrosse practice to a student government meeting. Finally, we focus the lens back on campus as the sun goes down.

But all of the back and forth, equipment handling, people herding, and blisters are worth it. We get to spend quality time on campus, seeing each college or university through our clients’ eyes, while getting to know its students, faculty, and staff better. All the while, of course, taking incredible photos.

Here’s a list of some of the things that make us smile whenever we’re on a campus shoot:

1. Enthusiastic students:

What would a college photo shoot be without some eager young minds traversing across campus? Not only are they fun to shoot, we love chatting them up. Every student we meet is inspiring in their own way.

2. Attending classes:

We’re a group of communications, marketing, and creative people here at CCA, so that’s what most of us learned about in class and earned degrees in. But when we go on photo shoots and step inside classrooms, we get to learn a little bit about modern dance, statistics, or article three of the constitution.

3. Gorgeous campuses:

We have clients whose campuses are located in the center of Manhattan or nestled between acres of rolling hills. Some have arboretums and meticulously cared for quads, and others are home to buildings that are either state-of-the-art or a hundred of years old. No matter which campus we’re on, it’s always beautiful and unique.

4. Being inspired by the professors:

Everyone at CCA has chosen to work in higher education—we enjoy this field just as much as our clients, and we love being able to spend a few minutes here and there talking to faculty about their experiences there.

5. Spontaneity:

On any campus, there are about 1,000 cool things going on at any time, and we never know what to expect. We plan our shoots down to the minute, but we just can’t miss the opportunity to capture students dancing in the student center or a theater class performing an impromptu improv piece in the quad.

6. Finding students napping in the strangest places:

With so much going on, it’s kind of a relaxing surprise when we find a student snoozing on the lawn, slumped in a desk chair or stretched out on a couch in the student center before getting to their next class, practice, meeting… or their next nap.

7. Frozen Yogurt:

Lastly, we love our shoots because we usually end up chowing down in the dining halls. That means eating like we’re in back college. For just one day, we pile our plates high with pizza, stir fry, and curly fries, then make ourselves a frozen yogurt or ice cream cone to finish off our lunch. Can you blame us?

Put us to work photographing your campus and using the photography in all manners of marketing…like say, a blog. Know what content marketing is? Here’s a free eBook that explains it all:

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Melissa Batalin

Assoc. Creative Director, Experience

Melissa is the bridge between creative, digital, and strategy at CCA, as well as an experience designer devoted to creating compelling, consistent brands. Her desk is where coworkers’ dead plants are given new life by her plant-saving heroism.